www.ismaili.net

Does vaccine turn girls into guinea pigs?

Bishop Fred Henry
For The Calgary Herald


Tuesday, October 28, 2008


First of all, I want to make it clear that, in the case of minors, parents must decide whether or not their child is to be vaccinated against the human papilloma virus that causes most cases of cervical cancer and genital warts.

A Catholic institution has a different responsibility -- to live faithfully its mission and teaching. To witness to the teaching and values of Jesus Christ requires sound moral reflection and judgment.

In some instances, given the complexity of an issue, after due consideration and prayer, parents may opt for a plan of action that is not endorsed by the Catholic school board.

Judgments of what is right or wrong are ethical or moral decisions. The Catholic moral tradition develops through prayer, study, reflection and the recognition of the Holy Spirit at work through various sources. Such sources include health and social service providers, the experience of the Christian community, moral theologians, bishops, church teaching and sacred Scripture. No source of knowledge pertinent to the issue at hand should be neglected.

Some of the values and principles that direct ethical decision-making and that enable us to respond to the call to respect dignity, promote justice and foster trust are: the dignity of every human person, stewardship and creativity, respect for life and the common good.

Reactions to the government's plan are very mixed and involve moral issues.

First of all, are we confident that this vaccine is safe to administer to young girls? Many, including Dr. Diane M. Harper, a lead researcher, scientist, physician, professor and former director of Gynecological Cancer Prevention Research Group at Dartmouth Medical School have stated: "This vaccine should not be mandated for 11-year-old girls. . . . It's not been tested in little girls for efficacy. At 11, these girls don't get cervical cancer -- they won't know for 25 years if they will get cervical cancer. Giving it to 11-year-olds is a great big public health experiment."

In 2007 Maclean's magazine published a five-page cover story suggesting adoption of the Gardasil vaccine would make "guinea pigs" of Canadian girls.

Why is Alberta opting for a mass vaccination of girls in grades 5 and 9? Other provinces have picked different grades. Is there a secret or unannounced government plan to administer this vaccine each year, so that we will eventually catch up to those currently in Grade 9? What about those currently in grades 10, 11, and 12? Is it simply a matter of convenience and economics to administer several vaccines at the same time?

Contrary to those who state that the vaccine is safe with very few side-effects and merely cite temporary soreness at the site of the injection, the U.S. Judicial Watch organization and the Vaccination Risk Awareness Network report a wide spectrum of reported adverse reactions.

Secondly, this vaccine is different than other commonly accepted vaccines in that HPV is a sexually transmitted disease. The vaccine may only be potentially effective to address the risk of physical health, and would not address a young person's spiritual, emotional or moral health

Furthermore, if a disease is preventable by other means, especially natural means, then surely it makes sense to employ those means. Catholic moral teaching affirms that the gift of sexual intercourse belongs to the covenanted relationship of marriage.

Consequently, parents, physicians, educators and governing bodies should adopt a health-oriented approach that addresses sexual attitudes and behaviours recommending delayed genital sexual activity. We should teach critical thinking skills; provide factual information and guidelines as needed; teach right from wrong; and equip our youth for proper decision-making. A school-based approach to vaccination runs the risk of sending at least an implicit message that early sexual intercourse is allowed, as long as one uses "protection."

The popular wisdom these days insists that because we can't stop our children from engaging in premarital sex, and because such sex can be dangerous and have bad effects, we should do everything we can to protect our youngsters by vaccinating them against the HPV virus. The vaccine, we are assured, will decrease cervical cancer in a simple, straightforward way. If parents love their children, they will surely see to it that they have "protection."

This argument, widely accepted in all strata of our society, relies on a seriously flawed understanding of what love really means. We need only consider a related example to see this flaw clearly. If our children decide that they are going to play hopscotch on a busy street, in the midst of high-speed traffic, would we be manifesting our love for them by giving them helmets to place over their heads for "protection", or would real love involve pulling them off the street and insisting they learn abstinence from hopscotch in high-speed traffic areas?

Respecting the God-given designs for our sexuality and struggling toward sexual self-mastery is one of the great challenges of our age, and probably of every age. Arguments in favour of widespread availability of the HPV vaccine are emblematic of a collective loss of nerve in the face of powerful libertine pressures within our culture.

Thirdly, why is the Alberta government willing to spend millions ($380 per person or more) on this vaccine with the distinct possibility that booster shots, at additional costs to the taxpayers, may be needed in the future? Given all the above, would it make more sense to allocate those resources to palliative care or mental health, which remain grossly underfunded in Alberta?

From a moral point of view, the answer is quite clear. If the vaccines are to be offered, they should be given in health centres or clinics, recreational or community centres but not in Catholic schools. The province for its part should pay for such vaccinations.

Fred Henry is the Roman Catholic Bishop of Calgary.

© The Calgary Herald 2008

Mehreen1221 wrote:Shams, you know, you've just revived the Halloween spirit to the max. anyways, first of all, make sure to get the consent from the owner of that poor animal or survivor of the dead person that you're gonna hump on... also check the legal jurisdictions in your area regarding that and if you cannot get that and if you really wanna get laid with a bear, horse, dog, donkey, lion or giraffe, go to African safari. Plus be aware of wild rabies that you might get thru those beasts and/or may get killed by the relatives of the dead person(s). By 'what' I was just suggesting a velvet or satin sofa or pillow, cushion or something, but oh well, I underestimated you...

Here's my response - The Imam said it best in 1976

"I have observed in the Western world a deeply changing pattern of human relations. The anchors of moral behaviour appear to have dragged to such depths that they no longer hold firm the ship of life. What was once wrong is now simply unconventional, and for the sake of individual freedom must be tolerated. What is tolerated soon becomes accepted. Contrarily, what was once right is now viewed as outdated, old-fashioned and is often the target of ridicule. "

Seerat Conference, Karachi, Pakistan
Friday, 12th March 1976.


Shams

of course, His Highness' words are like the words of God and therefore the correct interpretation of those words is as important and vital.

In my opinion, the sexual matters and manners are pretty much universal and not bound with borders or other limitations. just use the common sense in ay given society yo live in and it's all good. you don't have to dig into the religion and look for fatwas from some wanna be Amir-ul- Momineen. unfortunately, there are too many of those out there. more than half of the crap from kmaherali's post is impractical in today's world and contrary to Islamic teachings. this can be debated further but I m not in mood and BTW, my last post was just a little sarcastic...not serious. Peace!

Mehreen1221 wrote:of course, His Highness' words are like the words of God and therefore the correct interpretation of those words is as important and vital.

In my opinion, the sexual matters and manners are pretty much universal and not bound with borders or other limitations. just use the common sense in ay given society yo live in and it's all good. you don't have to dig into the religion and look for fatwas from some wanna be Amir-ul- Momineen. unfortunately, there are too many of those out there. more than half of the crap from kmaherali's post is impractical in today's world and contrary to Islamic teachings. this can be debated further but I m not in mood and BTW, my last post was just a little sarcastic...not serious. Peace!

There is a difference between mood and ability.
And in regards to "His Highness'" words as well as a wannabe Amir-ul-Momineen - in case you have not noticed - this is ismaili.net
Not Left Wing Sunni.net or repressed Sunni.net.

Shams

DUHHH... mood and ability are spelled differently and their meanings are totally different too...what other differences do you know between them?

I didn't get your point about some repressed wing and sunni left nut or something...

November 3, 2008, 3:58 pm

Behind the Statistics on TV and Teen Pregnancy
By Tara Parker-Pope

A scene from The CW Network’s “Gossip Girl.” (Giovanni Rufino/The CW)
A new study making headlines today suggests teenage girls and boys who watch a lot of steamy television are more likely to become pregnant or cause a pregnancy.

But a closer look at the data shows the relationship between television, sexual content and teen pregnancies is complex. The same study, published today in Pediatrics, also found that teens who watch a lot of television in general are less likely to become pregnant.

How can that be? The answer may be that kids who watch a lot of television obviously aren’t out dating and socializing with friends. So as unhealthy as it may be to spend hours in front of a screen, the behavior appears to be oddly protective against teen pregnancy.

The link between television and teen pregnancy only shows up when a high proportion of the television shows watched by a teen are filled with sexual content. When most of the television a teen watches is sexual in nature, risk for teen pregnancy doubles compared to kids who watch little or no sexually-themed television.

The study only shows an association between steamy TV and teen pregnancy, which means some other factor may be influencing the data. It could be that shows like “Gossip Girl” and “Degrassi High,” with their depictions of casual, consequence-free sex, prompt sexually active teens to have more partners or to be less careful about birth control. Or it may be that kids prone to risky or problem behavior also are more attracted to shows with high sexual content.

While the answer isn’t clear, the study findings do suggest that parents should be aware of what kids are watching on television and be ready to offer an alternate viewpoint.

“If the type of sexual portrayals that teens see on TV are the only messages they’re getting about sex, then they’re likely to approach sexual relationships in a way that might not be the healthiest way,” said Steven Martino, study co-author and a behavioral scientist at the RAND Corporation, the nonprofit health care research firm that conducted the study. “It’s important to talk to them about that and see how they’re reacting, and offer other perspectives to them about sex that they might not be getting on television.”

****

Sexy TV linked to pregnancy in teens
Media diet of kids 12 to 17 influences sexual behaviour

Andrew Stern
Reuters


Tuesday, November 04, 2008


Exposure to some forms of entertainment is a corrupting influence on children, leading teens who watch sexy programs into early pregnancies and children who play violent video games to adopt aggressive behaviour, researchers said Monday.

Researchers at the RAND research organization said their three-year study was the first to link viewing of racy television programming with risky sexual behaviour by teens.

"Our findings suggest that television may play a significant role in the high rates of teenage pregnancy in the United States," said Anita Chandra, a behavioral scientist who led the research at RAND, a nonprofit research organization.

"We're not saying we're establishing causation, but we are saying this is one factor that we were able to prospectively link to the teen pregnancy outcome," Chandra said.

The researchers recruited adolescents aged 12 to 17 and surveyed them three times between 2001 and 2004, asking about television viewing habits, sexual behavior and pregnancy.

In findings that covered 718 teenagers, there were 91 pregnancies. The top 10th of adolescents who watched the most sexy programming were at double the risk of becoming pregnant or causing a pregnancy compared to the 10th who watched the fewest such programs, according to the study published in the journal Pediatrics.

The study focused on 23 free and cable television programs popular among teenagers including situation comedies, dramas, reality programs and animated shows. Comedies had the most sexual content and reality programs the least.

"The television content we see very rarely highlights the negative aspects of sex or the risks and responsibilities," Chandra said. "So if teens are getting any information about sex they're rarely getting information about pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases."

Teen pregnancy rates in the United States have declined sharply since 1991 but remain high compared to other industrialized nations. Nearly one million girls aged 15 to 19 years old become pregnant yearly, or about 20 per cent of sexually active females in that age group. Most of the pregnancies were unplanned, the report said.

Young mothers are more likely to quit school, require public assistance and live in poverty, it said.

"Television is just one part of a teenager's media diet that helps to influence their behaviour. We should also look at the roles that magazines, the Internet and music play in teens' reproductive health," Chandra said, acknowledging still other factors can influence teen sex habits.

Living in a two-parent family reduced the chances of a teen getting pregnant or causing a pregnancy.

© The Calgary Herald 2008

A Woman interview with "The Body's Community Center", who got a HIV disease by having sex with various men.

Shelley Singer
Age: 49
Home: Los Angeles, Calif.
Diagnosed: 1997

Reference:
http://www.thebody.com/content/art47174.html

More Info and interview on other women who has got too dangerous HIV disease, AID and Virus,etc through SEX....
http://www.thebody.com/content/art45914.html

No sex for a third of Japan's couples

Reuters


Thursday, November 13, 2008


More than a third of married couples in Japan have stopped having sex, many of them because they are too tired or just can't be bothered, a government-backed medical researcher said on Wednesday.

About 37 per cent of couples surveyed this year by Kunio Kitamura, head of the Japan Family Planning Association, said they had not had sex for at least a month, compared with 32 per cent in 2004.

The most common reason, given by a quarter of the males surveyed, was being too tired after work, while 19 per cent of women said sex was too much of a hassle, he told Reuters.

"It's a question of work-life balance," Kitamura said. "This is not something that the individual can tackle alone. The people who run companies need to do something about it."

His written survey involved 647 men and 821 women aged up to 49, who are married. The trend could have serious consequences for Japan, whose falling birth rate and aging population are continuing headaches for the government.

The average number of children born to a Japanese woman in her lifetime was 1.34 in 2007, compared with 2.1 in the United States in 2006.

Kitamura said doctors may also be partly to blame for Japan's negative attitudes toward sex during pregnancy or after giving birth.

He is set to report to the Ministry of Health next year on his findings.

© The Calgary Herald 2008

I think, you can get infected of HIV/AIDS by having unprotected sex even with only one person if that person is infected by the HIV virus...but you can not get infected of HIV/AIDS even if you have unprotected sex with multiple partners but they are not infected...sex is not that causes it...it is just the vehicle through that HIV/AIDS virus spreads...HIV virus can also spread by sharing infected syringes and even the smallest amount of blood and other bodily fluids transfusion.

So then you must concede that being abstinent and not injecting drugs would keep the virus from spreading. And both those means of prevention are things our Mowla has been telling the youth time and time again.

Abstinent from what? Sex?? OHMYGOD! That is like abstinent from breathing …at least for me…LOL…I am not sure if you mean what I think you mean about sex?

I think, injecting drugs is not the cause of the virus to spread but using the HIV/AIDS infected syringes for whatever purpose will most likely cause HIV/AIDS to spread… the syringe or any other tool has to be infected by the virus/bacteria to spread it…

I refer to permiscuous sex involving multiple partners. For argument's sake, let's remove the element of the actual deed. if one person is infected, being with multiple partners is spreading that virus. In fact, in Canada people have been charged because they intentionally had unprotected sex when they knew they were infected with the AIDS virus. As for syringe use, I don't know whether you have an idealistic view of society or really bad hospitals. But besides injecting heroin or other drugs, when are people going to be sharing needles. If they didn't do drugs in the first place, or sleep around with partners without knowing their history, HIV would have died out. There's a reason why we are supposed to wait until we're married and be monogamous, and its starting to become very obvious.

INJECTIONS TARGET TEEN PREGNANCY RATES

Contraceptive drug promotes unsafe sex: critics
JULIE HENRY
THE TELEGRAPH LONDON

Girls as young as 13 will be pressed to have contraceptive injections under British government plans "urgently" to reduce teenage pregnancy rates.

Government ministers have ordered council and health authority chief executives to increase the uptake of "long-acting" contraception in teenage pregnancy "hot spots."
The government also wants more school-based clinics to administer the jabs, which can make girls infertile for up to three months.

Teenagers will be able to receive the injections or implants without their parents' knowledge.

Critics gave warning that the controversial move would promote promiscuity and that injections and implants would not protect against the rampant spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

Some health experts also say that the drugs are unsuitable for girls who are
still growing.

In letters demanding "urgent action to accelerate progress to the 2010 (teenage pregnancy) target", health and education ministers tell the heads of councils and primary care trusts to establish more "school-based contraception clinics" and bring about "an overall increase in the uptake of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC)."

The documents, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, show that 21 local authorities where teenage pregnancy rates have stagnated or risen have been singled out and have been told to push the injections and implants.

The letter received by Stoke-on-Trent city council says: "A key priority over the next six months is the roll-out of school based services and further development of young people's sexual health services. This needs to include, as a priority, the provision of long-acting contraception to ensure all young people have the choice of effective contraception."

But some health specialists oppose the move. Dr. Hans Christian Raabe, a general practitioner and medical co-or-dinator of the Council for Health and Wholeness, a Christian organization, said: "Using them over long periods might have an impact on bone growth.

"The other issue is it gives an impression of safety that is not there. Girls will think 'Nothing can happen to me because I can't get pregnant.' But the rates of sexually transmuted diseases are frightening. There has been an explosion and yet young people are given a false sense of security."

@calgary Herald

One in five U.S. teens has had 'tech sex': study

December 11, 2008 12:01 PM

Miley "Hannah Montana" Cyrus found herself in hot water recently for some revealing photos the teen idol sent to a friend.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/five+teens ... story.html
Photograph by : Bryan BedderWASHINGTON - One in five U.S. teens has sent nude or partially clothed images of themselves to someone by email or mobile phone and twice as many have sent sexually suggestive electronic messages, a poll showed Wednesday.


And American youngsters aged 13-19 are having tech-sex despite a majority of them saying it could have "serious negative consequences" on them, the survey commissioned by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy (NCTUP) showed.


More than half of the 1,280 teens and young adults up to age 26 who took part in the online poll, conducted in September and October, said they had received a sexually suggestive message from someone else -- and one in five said they had shared the racy message with a third person.


Eight in 10 teens said they would be concerned about sending a sexy image of themselves or racy message because they "might regret it later," while nearly 70 per cent said they were worried it could "disappoint family."


Where teen tech-sex gives real rise to concern among adults, said NCTUP, is that more than one-third of teens (38 per cent) say exchanging sexy content makes dating or physical sex with others more likely, and three in 10 say those who exchange sexually suggestive content are "expected to hook up."


"That so many young people say technology is encouraging an even more casual, hook-up culture is reason for concern, given the high rates of teen and unplanned pregnancy in the United States," said Marisa Nightingale, senior advisor to NCTUP.


Although teen pregnancy and birth rates in the United States have dropped by one-third since the 1990s, they remain high compared to other developed countries and carry high costs to the teens involved, their children and society, NCPTUP said in a report published last year.


"The U.S. birth rate of 41 per 1,000 in 2004 was much higher than Canada's 14 (in 2003), England and Wales' 27 (the highest rate in Western Europe), Japan's six and the Netherlands' five (the lowest rate in Western Europe)," said NCTUP's "Emerging Answers" report, published in November 2007.


More than 30 per cent of girls in the United States become pregnant before they reach age 20, and many become pregnant a second time before their 20th birthday, according to NCTUP.


According to the Guttmacher Institute, nearly half of all 15- to 19-year-olds in the United States have had sex at least once.

© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service

Mono or Infectious Mononucleosis: Treatment of The Kissing Disease



Mono or mononucleosis, also called the kissing disease, is named after its transmission via infected saliva. However, this disease is not as funny as the name implies. The virus that causes it is Epstein-Barr, or EBV virus. It is possible to transmit the virus by less exciting routes, such as sneezing and coughing. Moreover, the consequences can be less than amusing. Besides the standard swollen glands and sore throat, which can be severe, the long-lasting weakness and fatigue that follow can be a trying experience. What is even neater is that there is no cure for mononucleosis by the hallowed halls of modern medicine. Doctors just tell patients to go home, get plenty of rest, drink plenty of liquid, and wait as the only treatment, but could this be true?

What is mono?

Infectious mononucleosis, mono, kissing disease, and glandular fever are all popular terms for the very common illness caused by the Epstein-Barr virus or EBV. This is a member of the herpes-virus family. By the time most people reach adulthood, an antibody against EBV is commonly present in their blood. In the U.S., up to 95% of adults aged 35-40 have antibodies directed against EBV in their blood. This means that most people have, at some point in their lives, had infection with EBV.
The designation mononucleosis refers to an increase in a special type of white blood cells called lymphocytes in the bloodstream, relative to the other blood components, because of the EBV infection. Mono is common in adolescents and young adults, with a peak incidence at ages 15-17. However, it is a common infection in children as well. Generally, the illness is less severe in young children and may mimic the symptoms of other common childhood illnesses. This may explain why it is not so easy to diagnose or recognize it in the younger age group. While there are other illnesses falling under the broad classification of “mononucleosis” that cause similar symptoms and an increase in blood lymphocytes, the form caused by the EBV is by far the most common in the world.

How is mononucleosis spread?

Mono is easy to spread by person-to-person contact, where saliva is the primary method of transmission. Infectious mononucleosis developed its common name of “kissing disease” from this prevalent form of transmission among teenagers. A person with mononucleosis can also pass the disease by coughing or sneezing, suspending small droplets of infected saliva and mucus in the air to be inhaled by others. Sharing food or beverages from the same container or utensil can also transfer the virus from one person to another, since contact with infected saliva may result. Most people are exposed to the virus as children, and developed immunity. In fact, those who expose themselves to the EBV usually do not ever develop mononucleosis.
The incubation period for mononucleosis refers to the time from the initial viral infection until the appearance of symptoms. This period is between four and six weeks. During an infection, a person is likely able to transmit the virus to others for a few weeks. Researches have shown that anywhere from 20 to 80 percent of people who have had mononucleosis and have recovered continue to secrete the EBV in their saliva. This goes on for years due to periodic reactivations of the viral infection. Since healthy people without symptoms also secrete the virus during reactivation episodes throughout their lifetime, isolation of infected mono patients is not necessary. Moreover, some doctors believe that some healthy people who nevertheless secrete EBV particles are the primary reservoirs for transmission of EBV among humans.

What are the symptoms of infectious mononucleosis?

The initial symptoms of mono are general lack of energy (malaise), loss of appetite, and chills. These initial symptoms can last from one to three days before more intense symptoms of the illness begin. The more common intense symptoms include severe sore throat, fever, and swollen glands or lymph nodes in the neck area. Generally, the severe sore throat prompts people to contact their doctor. In addition, a fever from 102 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit is the most common sign of mono.
The tonsils have a whitish coating in at least one third of the cases of mononucleosis. The spleen, which is the body’s biggest lymph node, is an organ found in the left upper abdomen underneath the ribcage. It swells and enlarges in about 50% of patients with infectious mononucleosis. An enlarged liver may also occur, and about 5% of patients have a splotchy red rash over the body, similar in appearance to the measles rash.

How to diagnose mononucleosis

The diagnosis of mono is based on these symptoms and signs. It is possible to confirm mono by blood tests while testing to exclude other possible causes of the symptoms. Early in the course of the illness, blood tests show an increase in a type of white blood cells. Some of these increased lymphocytes are unusual lymphocytes, which suggest infectious mononucleosis. More specific testing, such as the monospot and heterophile antibody tests, can confirm the diagnosis. These tests rely on the body’s immune system to make measurable antibodies against the EBV that provoke this infection. Unfortunately, the antibodies may not become detectable until the second or third week of this illness. A blood chemistry test can reveal abnormalities in liver function. Your doctor should also consider testing to exclude the possibility of a strep throat.

Treatment of the kissing disease

In most cases of infectious mononucleosis, no specific treatment is necessary. The illness is usually self-limited and passes much the way other common viral illnesses resolve; available antiviral drugs have no significant effect on the overall outcome and may actually prolong the course of the illness. Occasionally a strep throat occurs in conjunction with mono, and is best treated with penicillin or erythromycin. Ampicillin and amoxicillin should be avoided, since up to 90% of patients with kissing disease develop a rash when taking these medications. Acetaminophen could also help with fever and any aching of the body or head.
A sufficient amount of sleep and rest is also an important aspect of treatment for the kissing disease. The throat soreness is worst during the first five to seven days of the illness, and then subsides over the next seven to ten days; the swollen tender glands generally subside by the third week. A feeling of fatigue or tiredness may persist for months following the acute phase of the kissing disease.

It would be good to avoid participation in any contact sports during the first six to eight weeks following the onset to prevent trauma to the enlarged spleen. The spleen is susceptible to rupture, which can be life-threatening condition. Cortisone medication helps treat severely swollen tonsils or throat tissues which threaten to obstruct breathing. Patients can continue to show virus particles present in their saliva for as long as 18 months after the initial infection with Epstein-Barr virus. When symptoms persist for more than six months, the condition is designated a chronic EBV infection. However, laboratory tests generally cannot confirm continued active EBV infection in people with a chronic mono infection. You could try injections of vitamin B-12, which showed improvement in infectious mononucleosis therapy. You could also ask your doctor to use B-12 supplements under the tongue, which are SL, or sub-lingual form.

During infectious mononucleosis, the appetite can be down, and absorption may worsen, so highly nutrient dense food is important. The easiest way to get that done is using the green foods such as spirulina, chlorella, barley green, or other similar products. Vitamin C is something you must take during mono infection. To strengthen the body as fast as possible, a complete B-complex supplement makes sense. These nutrients are intimately involved in energy production in the body and work together in their biochemical reactions. If you want to cover all the bases alpha lipoic acid (ALA), can be very helpful. It is the only antioxidant that is both water- and fat-soluble. It is also considered an anti-aging nutrient. That is why many doctors would recommend you not just lie in bed if mono strikes. You must know that you are not helpless in this situation, so get proactive and head this pest off as soon as possible.

Complications of the kissing disease

A common, but usually not serious, complication of mononucleosis is a mild inflammation of the liver, called hepatitis. This form of hepatitis is rarely serious or requires any treatment. Also, enlargement of the spleen that occurs with mono makes traumatic rupture of the spleen a possible complication and a serious consequence.

Fortunately, the more severe complications of infectious mononucleosis are quite rare. These include inflammation of the sac surrounding the heart (pericarditis), the heart muscle (myocarditis), and the brain (encephalitis). It could also lead to the destruction of red blood cells, a condition famous as hemolytic anemia. However, mono tends to be more aggressive in patients with abnormal immune systems, such as AIDS patients or patients who have had organ transplants.

Reference
http://www.steadyhealth.com/articles/Mo ... 5_f34.html

Kissing Disease Information

Kissing Disease Information

Kissing disease cause
Kissing disease symptoms
Is it the same as mononucleosis and glandular fever?
Duration of kissing disease
Can you get it twice? Is it recurrent?
How do you get kissing disease?
Is it contagious?
Kissing disease incubation
Disease diagnosis
Disease treatment
Can it cause chronic fatigue?
Can kissing disease in children be a concern?
Can kissing disease in pregnancy be serious?

Kissing disease cause

The cause of kissing disease or mononucleosis is an infection by the Epstein Barr virus, a member of the herpes virus family.

Like all the herpes viruses, the kissing disease virus remains in the body for life.

In some cases, the virus can be reactivated when the body's defenses are lowered causing some people to get kissing disease twice or in rare cases, recurrent kissing disease.

back-to-mono-top
Kissing disease symptoms

The typical kissing disease symptoms are:

* Swollen glands in neck, armpits or groin
* Fever ranging from mild to severe
* Fatigue, sometimes extreme
* Sore throat, similar to tonsillitis

Some patients will also suffer from:

* Enlarged tonsils
* Headache
* Aching muscles
* Poor appetite
* Skin rash
* Abdominal pain
* Puffy eyelids
* Sensitivity to light
* Cough or runny nose
* Enlarged liver and spleen.

back-to-mono-top

Is it the same as mononucleosis or glandular fever?

Yes, it is the same as disease as mononucleosis or glandular fever. It is also called infectious mononucleosis, mono, mononucleosis virus, Epstein Barr, Epstein Barr virus and EBV.

Duration of kissing disease

Symptoms of kissing disease usually last from 1 - 4 weeks although some cases may last months.
back-to-mono-top
Can you get kissing disease twice? Is it recurrent?

Generally, people only get kissing disease once. Some people get kissing disease twice. About 6% of people experience recurrent kissing disease for months or years after they initially contact the virus.

A kissing disease relapse or recurring kissing disease means that the immune system needs to be strengthened in order to keep the symptoms at bay.

The e-book has a comprehensive kissing disease treatment plan that ensures long term recovery.

How do you get kissing disease?

The kissing disease virus is shed from the throat during the illness and up to a year after the infection. The virus can become dormant and later reactivated during a kissing disease relapse when it can be shed from the throat again.

Apart from through kissing, saliva can transmit the virus by people sharing drinking glasses, eating utensils, towels or toys. Kissing disease can be transmitted from mouth to hand so washing hands well is important.

back-to-mono-top

Is it contagious?

Though good personal hygiene makes sense, the kissing disease virus is everywhere, and exposure to it cannot be avoided entirely. Washing hands well, avoiding kissing and not sharing towels, glasses and eating utensils with infected patients is a good idea. People with kissing disease do not need to be isolated from others.

See the e-book "Nature's Amazing Mononucleosis Cures" for reasons why some people seem more susceptible to recurring kissing disease, and what you can do about it.


Kissing disease incubation

Kissing disease symptoms appear 30 - 50 days after exposure to the virus, although some people are infected with the virus for weeks or months before any symptoms begin to appear.
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Diagnosis

Kissing disease diagnosis is based on a persons age, symptoms and a physical exam. A diagnosis of kissing disease is made from laboratory tests including:

* Atypical lymphocytes - a type of white blood cell, in the blood. In mononucleosis, these atypical lymphocytes make up more than 10% of total lymphocytes.
* Increased total white blood cell count
* Antibody tests like the mono spot test.
* Additional Epstein Barr antibody tests

These are fully explained in the e-book.
back-to-mono-top
Treatment

The conventional medical approach to kissing disease treatment is not very effective. It includes only the basics like relieving symptoms. Advice normally given is to rest, drink plenty of fluids, gargle with salt water and suck on throat lozenges to relieve a sore throat. To relieve pain and fever, acetaminophen or ibuprofen may be recommended.

Antibiotics like penicillin are of no help in kissing disease as it is caused by a virus, and antibiotics don't work against viruses. If you have a bacterial infection in addition to having kissing disease, your doctor may give you an antibiotic.

I believe that much more can be done to treat the virus naturally for a complete kissing disease recovery. See the e-book "Nature's Amazing Mononucleosis Cures" for our full treatment plan.

In the book, I show the best natural health approaches to kissing disease treatment. I explain little known facts about nutrition, supplementation, pure water, adequate rest and sleep, stress reduction, and when to start gentle exercise. I also explain complementary therapies like the use of essential oils, homeopathy, massage, and visualization to ensure that kissing disease relapses do not occur.

back-to-mono-top
Can kissing disease cause chronic fatigue?

Some patients suffer from recurring kissing disease. Their primary symptom is usually fatigue and they end up being diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. It is often in times of stress when a kissing disease relapse occurs.

The bottom line is how healthy your immune system is. If you still get recurring kissing disease with sore throats, swollen glands or fatigue, it is nature's way of telling you that something is wrong with your immune system.

It may be suppressed from poor eating habits, nutritional imbalances, stress, smoking or a chronic underlying disease. Your genes can also make you more susceptible to disease.

Fortunately, through general lifestyle practices like a healthy diet, stress reduction, regular exercise and taking some immune boosting supplements, you can strengthen your immunity and make a full kissing disease recovery.

See the e-book for my comprehensive kissing disease treatment plan.

back-to-mono-top
Can kissing disease in children be a concern?

Kissing disease in adults is most common, mainly affecting adults aged 15 - 40. In children the kissing disease symptoms are normally less severe. Kissing disease in children is often passed off as a cold or flu and may not even be diagnosed.

In some cases acute kissing disease in children can be serious and has been known to turn into chronic kissing disease. Kissing disease treatment in children is the same as in adults as explained in "Nature's Amazing Mononucleosis Cures".


Can kissing disease in pregnancy be serious?

Recent research shows that reactivation of the Epstein Barr virus during pregnancy may shorten the duration of the pregnancy. It has been associated with the baby having a lower average birth weight, length and head circumference.

Since pregnancy and breastfeeding can cause fatigue, it is vital to address a kissing disease treatment plan that ensures a quick recovery.

Reference
http://www-kissingdisease.com/kissing-disease-facts.htm


PLEASE CLICK ON THESE WEBSITES FOR MORE INFORMATION AND A GOOD COMPREHENDING OF KISSING DISEASE WITH PICTURES DETAILS .....
http://www.dochazenfield.com/Tonsillectomy.htm

http://childhealthcarecenter.com/infect ... onucleosis

What's really behind decline of teen sex

By Laura Wershler

With a newly released StatsCan study on Canadian teen sexual behaviour and a new book out of the U.S. raising the spectre of sex-addicted adolescents, parents must be left scratching their heads.
Photograph by : David Silverman/Getty ImagesWith a newly released StatsCan study on Canadian teen sexual behaviour and a new book out of the U.S. raising the spectre of sex-addicted adolescents, parents must be left scratching their heads.

Let's start with the StatsCan study. It suggests two encouraging trends: teens are delaying intercourse and are more likely to use condoms than ever before. But keep in mind the sample was small (only 80 youth in Alberta, about 900 across the country) and the "new" stats were collected in 2005.

Interestingly girls account for the changes. The number of young women (15 to 19) reporting ever having had intercourse fell from 51 per cent in 1996/97 to 43 per cent in 2005. Young men stayed steady at 43 per cent. Although the female rate of condom use increased from 65 per cent to 70 per cent in 2005, the male rates remain unchanged at the higher rate of 80 per cent.

An August 27 Calgary Herald editorial (Don't Just Do It) infers from the report that postponing intercourse is attributable to teaching abstinence in schools. How did the editorial board draw this conclusion?

Mounting evidence demonstrates that improved access to comprehensive sexual health education is to be commended for contributing to such positive trends.

Another misguided notion in the editorial is "teens want and need the adults in their lives to set boundaries, to establish rules and guidelines for behaviour". How? By pushing abstinence.

The abstinence message comes across loud and clear in the new book, Hooked: New Science on How Casual Sex is Affecting Our Children which was featured in the Herald on Aug. 25. A quick Google search reveals authors Dr. Joe McIlhaney and Dr. Freda Bush are ardent abstinence-until-marriage advocates.

Their premise is that teen sex is bad for the brain because bonding hormones released during sex can become addictive. Yet Bush says that when two people are in a committed relationship, that addictive hormone is a good thing, ensuring a strong union.

This begs the question: Why do they believe that teens aren't capable of, or shouldn't have, committed sexual relationships?

The authors of Hooked are not alone in this belief.

The tendency to discourage teens from having sexual relationships is at the core of the research of American sociologist Amy Schalet. In a widely read paper entitled Must We Fear Adolescent Sexuality? Schalet compared the experience of adolescent sexuality in the U.S. and Netherlands based on in-depth interviews with teens and parents from both countries.

PAGEBREAK
It is well-documented that sexual health outcomes for teens in the Netherlands are among the best in the world (low rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections) while those in the U.S. are the worst among developed countries.

The biggest difference between the two cultures is that the U.S. dramatizes adolescent sexuality while the Netherlands normalizes it. American parents fear the "battle between the sexes" and perceive teen relationships as dangerous and therefore to be discouraged. Dutch parents expect their young people to gather sexual experience in the context of relationships and accept sexuality as a normal part of adolescence.

If teen sex is damaging our kids' brains, or hearts, perhaps the actual culprit is people like the authors of Hooked.

Couldn't their dramatic campaign against teen sexual relationships lead to the very danger they warn against -- casual sex?

Their well-meaning tips (eg. write down your commitment to abstain from sex, limit the amount of physical contact) on how parents can help their children say "no" are about as practical as the Herald editorial's assertion that what teens want and need are rules to guide their sexual behaviour.

What teens want and need is clearly stated in Beyond the Big Talk, a study published in March 2008 in the journal Pediatrics.

This study on parent-adolescent communication about sexual topics found that parents who take a rule-oriented, domineering approach to talking about sex risk hindering open, productive discussion and can expect more contempt, dishonesty and disengagement from their teens.

The encouraging message for parents is this:

Teens want open, supportive parents who engage in respectful, give-and-take conversations that foster ongoing communication about sexual issues.

Parents who talk early and often with their kids about sexuality have significant potential to reduce risky sexual behaviour and promote healthy sexual development.

Maybe the good news StatsCan report is evidence that more Canadian parents consider open discussion about sexuality a normal part of family life.

Laura Wershler is the executive director of Sexual Health Access Alberta. SHAA is working on a project to encourage parents to talk early and often about sexual issues with their children.

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

New father at 13 prompts pregnancy debate in U.K.

KATHERINE HADDON
AGENCE-FRANCE PRESSE
LONDON

Stringer, AFP-Getty Images Briton Alfie Patten, 13, is a new dad, The Sun newspaper reported Friday.(photo)


A baby-faced, 13-year-old British schoolboy has fathered a child with his 15-year-old girlfriend, it emerged Friday, triggering debate about the country's high level of teenage pregnancies.

Alfie Patten, whose voice has not yet broken, admitted he had not thought about how he and girlfriend Chantelle Steadman would support baby daughter Maisie Roxanne, who was born Monday, but vowed to be a good father.

"I didn't think about how we would afford it I don't really get pocket money. My dad sometimes gives me 10 pounds," the four-foot tall teenager from Eastbourne, southern England, told the Sun tabloid. "When my mum found out, I thought I was going to get in trouble... I didn't know what it would be like to be a dad. I will be good, though, and care for it."

The case has drawn comment from Prime Minister Gordon Brown, while a former leader of the main opposition Conservative party said it was an example of social breakdown in "broken Britain."

"I don't know the individual details of the case but, of course, I think all of us would want to avoid teenage pregnancies," Brown told reporters.
But Iain Duncan Smith, a senior lawmaker and ex-Conservative leader, said someone needed to speak out about the breakdown of the family in Britain.

"Too many dysfunctional families in Britain today have children growing up where anything goes," he said. "It exemplifies the point we have been making about broken Britain. It's not being accusative, it' s about pointing out the complete collapse in some parts of society of any sense of what's right and wrong.

"There is no opprobrium any more about behaviour and quite often children witness behaviour that's aggressive, violent, rude and sexual It's as if no one is saying this is wrong."

The government has launched a strategy to reduce teenage pregnancy in England, which has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in western Europe.

Advisers say the level is falling but have called for more accessible contraceptives and more sex education in schools in areas which are falling behind.

Such efforts were praised by Tony Kerridge, a spokesman for Marie Slopes International, which runs sexual health clinics in 40 countries worldwide.

But he added that many young people in Britain needed to be encouraged to have higher aspirations.

"We have got the social aspect of young girls in the U.K. seeing having a baby as a route to getting their own place," he said. "It may seem like a short-term solution to problems at home, but the mid- to long-term prospects are probably a life stuck on benefits."

The families of both new, young parents are reportedly standing by them and Alfie's father Dennis, 45, said his son was fully committed to his new paternal role.

Calgary Herald, 14th Feb 2009

Waiting to have a baby

Older moms giving birth to a burgeoning trend

By Valerie Berenyi, Calgary HeraldFebruary 15, 2009

As Angus Watson, a happy, personable little guy, goes about the daily thrills and spills of exploring his southwest Calgary home, his mom keeps a close eye on him, clearly delighted by her active first-born.

The chubby-cheeked 18-month-old came into the world Aug. 27, 2007--one of 16,543 babies born in Calgary hospitals between March 31, 2007, and April 1, 2008.

What's remarkable is that, like Angus, nearly 21 per cent of those babies--one in five --were delivered by a mother over 35, according to figures from Alberta Health Services.

Fran Watson gave birth to Angus when she was 43, having waited 20 years to find the right partner, get married and then have a child.

"What I feel as a mom who waited a long time is 'My God, I'm happy,' " said the longtime publicist. "And what can possibly be wrong with that wonderful feeling?"

She is part of a larger societal trend happening in Canada and other industrialized countries: the proportion of women over 35 giving birth in Canada has more than tripled from five per cent in 1982 to about 18 per cent in recent years, according to a report released Jan. 29 by the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

Even so, we lag behind other developed nations. The same report found that while the birth rate in Canada in 2006 was 44.9 per 1,000 women age 35 to 39, rates in the United States (47.3 per 1,000) and England and Wales (53.8 per 1,000) were higher in the same year.

On Feb. 3, the birth of twin boys to 60-year-old Ranjit Hayer of Calgary thrust the issue of older mothers under the microscope.

While bearing children in one's seventh decade with the help of reproductive technology obtained in India may be an extreme example, late-blooming mothers now appear to be the new nor-mal. And, like Hayer, who tried for decades to bear children, many older mothers strongly defend their choice, despite the considerable risks.

On One's Last Eggs

The problems with waiting to have children are many.Women 35 and up are less fertile, have a greater risk of miscarriage or stillbirth and more complications in pregnancy such as diabetes and high blood pressure, said Dr. Jeffrey Roberts, a reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist at the Pacific Centre for Reproductive Medicine in Vancouver, B. C.

Pregnant women over 40 are automatically considered high risk, and the maternal complications dramatically increase over 50, Roberts added.

"Women as they approach 45 and beyond have almost a 75 per cent risk of miscarriage," he said, "and the risk of Down syndrome becomes more than one in 100."

Moms over 40 also have a higher chance of producing more eggs at once, thereby increasing their odds of having preterm twins. Low birth weight babies themselves can have a host of health problems.

Helen Vanderburg was willing to take those risks.

A fitness professional and the owner of Heavens Fitness in Calgary, Vanderburg said she delayed having children mostly because she wasn't in a committed relationship until she was older; building her career played a secondary role.

After meeting and marrying Terry Kane, a physical therapist, their first child Kiah was conceived naturally. They desperately wanted a second, so much so that Vanderburg went through five years of in vitro fertilization treatments at the Regional Fertility Program in Calgary.

She guesses it cost about $20,000. "I think I tried to erase the memory."

In the last round, she had three embryos implanted, but only one developed. She underwent a full complement of testing to rule out any genetic abnormalities and, at 45, gave birth to daughter Sage.

She hasn't personally experienced any resistance to older women having children--"It could be the world I travel in, where people are more accepting of that"--but she bristles at the fact most people wouldn't think twice about an older man having children.

At 50 she still sees herself as young.

"Women in their 40s and beyond are much fitter, healthier and stronger than the generations before us. In every physical way, they are young," she said, before neatly summarizing the conundrum she and other older mom face.

"Older woman can have babies because they're fit and healthy, but the reproductive system--and that's the big lecture I got from the Regional Fertility Clinic-- can't be changed with diet and exercise."

Being in top shape lets Vanderburg keep up with her girls, now 10 and 4, but she admits she initially wondered how Ranjit Hayer could do it at 60.

"I was seeing myself and thinking 'OK, add 10 years and could I run after toddlers, especially two boys?' "

But she feels motherhood is intensely personal; each woman has her own reasons about if and why she has children and when.

"The one thing I always remind myself is I don't know the person's story, so who am I to place judgment?"

a reproductive choice?

Likewise, Aradhana Parmar believes it is a woman's right to have babies when she chooses, at any age.

Why? Parmar, an associate professor of communication and culture at the University of Calgary who teaches women's studies and development studies, believes a little perspective is necessary.

"The reason for this (trend) is that new technologies are available in an era when women are professionals and they spend lots of time focusing on their careers and education, so by the time they are ready to settle down they are in their 30s."

At the same time, she says our life span has greatly improved, so that parents will be around longer to care for late-born children.

"Logically, it makes absolute sense to me to have children whenever it is convenient to them," Parmar said. "If you can raise a child, give them lots of love and affection and facilities, and even you're 50 but healthy, why not?"

A recent report from Statistics Canada may support her argument.

Published in September, it looked at the growing trend of first-time mothers over 35 and concluded that the children of older moms are generally as healthy as those born to younger women.

The study found that while they are at greater risk of birth defects, once the children of moms over 35 are born, their health, behaviour and cognitive outcomes up to the age of five were nearly the same as the children of mothers 25 to 29.

"I've talked to my grad students and my mature students and they all want to have children-- it's only a question of time, money or partners," said Parmar, 57, herself the mother of two grown children and a grandmother.

She believes motherhood is a basic instinct. "Some of it is cultural, yes, but the urge to create a life is so powerful."

Fran Watson agrees with Parmar that women have the right to have children at the time and age of their choosing, "so long as they have their support systems in place."

"(Ranjit and husband Jagir Hayer) have it all sorted out. Those kids have an abundant extended family. The kids I feel sorrier for are those born to moms who have no extended network to support them."

Like Vanderburg, once Watson finally met and married her husband, James Watson, a 46-year-old computer programmer, it was time "to pull the goalie."However, they were not willing to do so with the help of medical science.

Her first pregnancy ended in miscarriage, so she began using a combination of natural therapies to get pregnant again: vitamins, licorice root and progesterone from wild yams. Luckily, her second pregnancy was normal and resulted in Angus.

Watson said people are "so happy for us when they find out our age," although someone once remarked to her " 'Your grandson is so cute.' That was hard."

She said she encourages "anyone who has a strong feeling about this not to hold back because of age. It's only one factor among many.

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

*****

Older dads face reproductive problems, too


By Valerie Berenyi, Calgary HeraldFebruary 15, 2009

While it's long been assumed that men can sire a child at any age--as actor Anthony Quinn did at 81--newer research shows fathers may also have a best-before date.

There is evidence that older dads face an increased risk of fathering children with genetic abnormalities such as Down syndrome or achondroplasia dwarfism, a type of autosomal dominant genetic disorder.

Several studies have linked a threefold increase in schizophrenia in the children of older fathers.

There are also risks of miscarriage among women impregnated by older men, said Dr. Jeffrey Roberts, a reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist at the Pacific Centre for Reproductive Medicine in Vancouver, B. C.

"In the past we thought that it wouldn't matter how old the man is and that men are perfectly fertile up until senility-- as long as they could produce sperm and get the woman pregnant," said Roberts. "But we now know that (aging) sperm can contribute some genetic abnormalities to the child."

Some clinics, including his, now counsel couples when the man is over 40.

"But the association is very weak," he added. "By far the biggest risk is maternal age."

Besides Quinn, other famous older fathers include Pierre Trudeau, who sired a fourth child at 72. His daughter Sarah was born in 1991, but Trudeau didn't live to see her ninth birthday.

At 45 Tony Blair fathered child No. 4 while at 10 Downing Street; wife Cherie was 45 when baby Leo was born. Warren Beatty reproduced at age 62, as did Pablo Picasso at 68.

The world's oldest recorded father was an Australian miner named Les Colley, who was two months' shy of his 93rd birthday when he fathered his ninth child, a son named Oswald, in 1992. Colley died six years later, almost reaching 100.

vberenyi@theherald.canwest.com

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

Kids have childhoods stolen by adult agendas


By Naomi Lakritz, Calgary HeraldMay 6, 2009 2:07 AM

A headline in Saturday's Herald about a new study really gave me pause. It read: "Grade 6 students admit hitting dates." Appalling, isn't it? Not the hitting part; that's only secondary to what's really wrong with this scenario. It's the dates. Grade 6 students are dating? They're 10 and 11 years old! What are their parents thinking? Or not thinking?

Peggy Orenstein put her finger on the problem in a column in last Sunday's New York Times Magazine. She wrote that while adults are busy prolonging their own youth, at the same time they're pushing kids to become adults faster.

"Since adults are staying younger older--50 is the new 30!--our children may soon surpass us in age," Orenstein wrote.

Last September, when we visited the Enchanted Forest near Revelstoke, B. C., my son wanted to climb up in a tree house, but hesitated. My friend saw him look longingly up at the tree house and asked what was the matter.

"I'd feel kind of silly. I'm 20," my son said.

My friend laughed. "Well, Jonny, if 50 is the new 30, then 20 is the new 10, so go for it!" he advised--and my son was up in the tree house in moments.

It was all lots of fun, and we had a good laugh over 20 being the new 10. But nobody should be laughing about 10 being the new 20, which is what's happening when young children are going out on dates.

Commenting on the study of 5,400 American children --what? thousands of young children are dating?--Ray Hughes, a London, Ont., teacher who developed a course called the Fourth R, which deals with violence, drug abuse and sexuality and starts in Grade 8, says the course will eventually begin in junior kindergarten.

You know what, Ray? Keep it in Grade 8, far away from the kindergarten kids.

The elementary school years should be about childhood.

I think the sense that this is becoming imperative is behind Alberta's proposed law which would allow parents to opt their children out of classes which teach values that run contrary to those being instilled at home.

The discussion on that law has gotten sidetracked by those who are worried it will let parents take their kids out of science classes when evolution is taught.

If that's the case, the language of the law needs tightening up. Science is a core subject and everyone should learn it. But I

believe parents have something more troubling in mind, and that is the introduction, earlier and earlier, of social-engineering agendas that discuss such things such as homosexuality.

If I had a child in kindergarten or the lower grades, I'd opt him out of such a course, too. Doesn't matter if it's homosexuality or heterosexuality-- little kids don't need to know about sex of any type. Or drugs. Or violence. They're babies. Let them be! Let them play.

As Orenstein wrote, "When I was a (child in kindergarten), we danced the hokey-pokey, swooned in suspense over (Duck, Duck, Goose) and napped on our mats until the Wake-Up Fairy set us free." Yes, you do the hokeypokey and you turn yourself around, that's what it's all about. That's all it should ever be about when you're five.

I remember those times. Parents sent their children to school and there was no thought to "opting out" of this or that class, because school was about academics, not agendas.

They didn't teach "values"-- they taught you how to do arithmetic. Or if they did teach you values, it was basic ones about good manners and how to treat others--things you need to know to get along in society. Kindergartners did fun stuff that five-yearolds are supposed to do. Grade 1 was about learning to read--and the brother and sister in The Cat in The Hat did not have two daddies. Parents today who want to opt their kids out of agenda-driven curricula --and the agenda always seems to involve teaching them things way beyond what their age level needs to know--are unfairly cast as homophobic bigots. Yet, I'm willing to bet the majority of these parents simply feel their children are too young for all this information about sex--gay or straight.

It is all being taught in the name of tolerance, but all it really demonstrates is an utter intolerance on the part of adults for the concept of childhood.

The early years are in grave danger of disappearing altogether. When kindergartners are studying sex and violence, and 11-yearolds are going out on dates, something precious has been snatched away from them and they can never get it back. We need to reclaim the hokey-pokey--and reject the hocus-pocus that forces an early and ersatz adulthood on children.

nlakritz@theherald.canwest.com

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

Palin's daughter talks abstinence

Herald News Services
May 7, 2009 3:03 AM

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter, who caused a stir on her mother's U. S. vice-presidential campaign last year when it was revealed she was pregnant, urged young Americans Wednesday to abstain from having sex to avoid becoming a teenage mother like herself.

Some girls believe a baby "is like having an accessory on their hip," Bristol Palin, 18, told a panel. "Having a baby is a huge responsibility and I think that teenagers should just wait to have sex," she said.

Palin was speaking at an event organized by the Candie's Foundation, which aims to educate teenagers about the problems young people face if they get pregnant, and which has appointed her as a teen ambassador.

Bristol Palin had a son, Tripp, in December.

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

Adult TV tempts kids to engage in sex

ReutersMay 8, 2009 3:03 AM

Watching adult-oriented TV shows and movies might prompt children to start having sex at an earlier age, according to a new study released by Children's Hospital Boston.

The research suggests that early onset of sexual activity among teens might relate to the amount of adult content they watched as children.

"Television and movies are among the leading sources of information about sex and relationships for adolescents," said Hernan Delgado, a pediatrician who headed the research team.

"Our research shows that their sexual attitudes and expectations are influenced much earlier in life."

The study consisted of 754 subjects who were tracked during childhood and again five years later, when their ages ranged from 12 to 18.

When the youngest children in the sample were exposed to adult-targeted entertainment, they were more likely to have sex earlier.

The study showed that for every hour the youngest group of kids watched adult-targeted content over two sample days, their chances of having sex during early adolescence increased by 33 per cent.

"Children learn from media, and when they watch media with sexual references and innuendoes, our research suggests, they are more likely to engage in sexual activity earlier in life,"said David Bickham, a co-author of the study.

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

HPV vaccine sends wrong message


By Jim Mahony, For The Calgary HeraldJuly 7, 2009

Recently, the public health branch of the Alberta government offered Albertans, including Calgary parents of school age girls, an explanation of why only about one-third of Grade 5 girls in the city's separate schools stepped up to receive the HPV vaccine (the Herald, June 24, 2009).

The reason, an Alberta Health Services official said, was that vaccination clinics set up for the purpose were not convenient for parents. While some Albertans might accept that explanation, most know the reality: that Catholic parents and school trustees raised moral concerns about the vaccine, and when it came to choosing, they gave Gardasil the "thumbs down." That decision was not about convenience, as Alberta Health officials and most others engaged in this debate likely know.

Thus, it was surprising to see the same argument raised by ethicist Juliet Guichon and two physicians in a recent Herald column (June 24, Most vulnerable denied HPV vaccine). The trio refined their pitch, however, arguing that the lower "uptake" by Catholic parents was "probably due more to inconvenience than compliance with religious dictates."

Notably, Guichon and her colleagues offered no evidence in support of that claim. If they have such evidence, they should make it public. Otherwise, they should not presume to speak for Catholic parents in the separate school system.

Of perhaps equal interest, Guichon and colleagues do not identify the "religious dictates" they mention, and it's not clear what they mean. While Calgary Catholic Bishop Fred Henry has made clear he does not support HPV vaccinations for school-age girls, he has left the final decision on whether or not to vaccinate to parents. However one describes that approach, it is not dictating.

On the other hand, if "dictates" refers to Catholic teachings, the church has consistently taught that sex should take place within the confines of marriage, and only there. That might well be relevant to the debate, since some argue that Gardasil's net effect will be to encourage sexual activity, and not just the marital kind.

A more thoughtful analysis than Guichon's would recognize that Catholic parents with young daughters might have declined the vaccine because they believed girls might view it as a green light for early sexual activity. Even those of us who are not parents can appreciate these concerns. Guichon and friends claim promiscuity is not a concern, arguing that clinical trials of HPV vaccine showed no effect on girls' risk behaviour. Yet, clinical trials have limitations, and offer little insight into behaviour.

Such trials do not reflect the knowledge most parents have of their kids or the temptations kids face today. Some are stronger in the face of temptations. Others are not, and it may be these kids that parents had in mind when they said "no" to Gardasil.

Equally relevant to concerns over early sexual activity is the "silver bullet" theory that says teens who believe they are immune from consequences will try risky behaviour.

If they don't know it yet, the girls who get Gardasil will soon learn that doctors believe them less likely to develop certain cancers than unvaccinated girls, despite risky behaviour. Anyone who thinks that knowledge will not affect their choices in life is much mistaken.

No one is suggesting that all or most HPVvaccinated girls will become promiscuous, but few parents can doubt that girls who are inclined to early sexual activity will be tempted to take the plunge, because they are protected. After all, "the doctor said so."

Certainly, society has done little or nothing to discourage such activity. Indeed, the opposite is true. In recent years, society has neutralized many, if not most, of the serious consequences of sexual activity through condoms, oral contraceptives and other means. Often, such "advances" are promoted on public health grounds. Yet, whatever they need, today's kids do not need more encouragement to have sex.

Most public health officials who defend the use of HPV vaccine do so from the perspective that physical health is the only health that matters. In their neatly defined world, contracting a disease is the worst possible evil. What they rarely acknowledge is that the health of a young person--boy or girl -- is broader than just physical health.

Arguably, the real harm caused by early or indiscriminate sex is not physical, but psychological and spiritual. There is ample evidence that prematurely active adolescents are damaged in ways that no clinical trial or test will reveal.

The decision that many Catholic parents have made to keep their daughters Gardasil-free is both reasonable and moral, implying no lack of concern for their children's health. Indeed, such a decision arguably shows an understanding that harm, though not physical, may still be done to young people, despite the absence of disease.

That's a concept that Alberta's public health officials would do well to consider.

---

Jim Mahony, a journalist and former Calgary lawyer, writes about health-care ethics and end-of-life issues from a Catholic perspective

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

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Sex abuse denies the image of the Creator in us
By Bishop Fred Henry, For The Calgary Herald
October 6, 2009

On Sept. 30, at the Eucharist, we read from the Book of Nehemiah and I preached about the expression "sadness of the heart," a deep profound pain that cannot be adequately expressed in simple language, but only by way of an image. Little did I realize how apt that image would be for so many of us when it was announced that Bishop Raymond Lahey from Nova Scotia was charged with the possession and importation of child pornography. Our sadness, pain and anger seem boundless. I had hoped that we had finally rounded the corner on all the abuse situations within the church and on the part of its shepherds.

In August, the Diocese of Antigonish reached a multi-million-dollar settlement with known and alleged child victims of sexual abuse by priests. Bishop Lahey apologized and noted that they were entitled to protection.

He said: "Sexual abuse, indeed, any abuse, is wrong. It is crime and it is a serious sin in the eyes of God. I want to assure you that for some time our diocese, like others throughout Canada, have been taking steps to protect children and youth."

Although Bishop Lahey has not yet had his day in court, there appears to be a real disconnect between his words and alleged actions.

Undoubtedly, many of the victims of abuse are feeling re-victimized now in light of the events of the past days.

Let us never forget that any material that demeans the inherent dignity of women, men and children by removing sexuality from the context of meaningful interpersonal relationships denies the image of the Creator within all of us.

Pornography and the portrayal of sadistic violence debase sexuality, corrode human relationships, exploit individuals -- especially women and young people -- undermine marriage and family life, foster anti-social behaviour and weaken the moral fibre of society itself.

Pornography degrades those used in its production, as well as those who are desensitized or whose values are perverted through its consumption.

We denounce pornography because we believe that it reduces the Creator's gift of sexuality to a level that is devoid of personal dignity, commitment and spirituality. The sin of pornography involving children is most grave.

As we stand in a place of pain, brokenness and vulnerability right now, we should pray for victims of sexual abuse and pornography, for the priests and people of Antigonish, for Bishop Lahey, and for one another in this time of trial.

Fred B. Henry is the Catholic Bishop of Calgary.

---------

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

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Sex-ed texting targets teens
By Laura Stone, Canwest News ServiceNovember 17, 2009
It's sex-ed in 160 characters.

From North Carolina to Toronto, a handful of initiatives are now using text-messaging to teach teens about sexual health--answering questions about everything from emergency contraceptives to the age-old query: "Why doesn't he like me?"

The newest addition comes from Seattle's candid "Scarleteen" website, which recently began a text-message service for its roughly 10,000 American visitors a day. There are tentative plans to make it available soon in Canada--where about 1,250 teens log on daily.

Advocates said these services exist to reach teens in their preferred mode of communication. "With teenagers, texting is just huge," said Scarleteen founder, Heather Corinna, a former kindergarten teacher.

Scarleteen is run by 15 trained volunteers, many of whom are studying in a health-related field, said Corinna. They answer text messages through the use of a computer program.

"Some of the questions are really immediate. Somebody that used a condom for sex and had a condom break, and asks you what to do and didn't know about emergency contraception, you can tell them about it really, really quickly," she said. "It's good to be able to help them like that in real time."

A similar initiative, The Birds and Bees Text Line, opened out of the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Campaign of North Carolina in February.

Meanwhile, Toronto Public Health has modelled its new texting program, TOHealth, on a service based in San Francisco. While TOHealth doesn't yet offer personalized responses-- though there are plans to--it allows teens to text-message questions for free to 365247 about topics, such as sexual preparedness and pregnancy. The automatic service replies with information about where to get help in the city.

"We're trying to get out there and get the information to them in a way that seems very private and personal," said Michelle Hamilton-Page, the project leader at TOHealth, adding most teens get their sexual education from each other and it's often rife with inaccuracies.

But some researchers say texting shouldn't replace other, less abbreviated, forms of sexual education from health professionals.

"The idea that a texting service, in particular, which is providing information in very short bursts, can take the role of broadly based comprehensive sexual health education, would be a mistake," said Alex McKay, research co-ordinator for the Toronto-based Sex Information and Education Council of Canada.

Peter Jon Mitchell, a research analyst at the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada in Ottawa, said texting services, such as Scarleteen, focus primarily on crises, instead of bigger picture issues that are better handled by a strong parental relationship.

"Ultimately it's going to be teens and their parents dealing with the fallout, long after the news hits, and long after a text message is sent," said Mitchell, whose organization advocates for youth to delay sex until they are out of their teens.

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

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Hello All,

I am an ismaili man i am 18 years old. I love hazar imam and Allah but i have a problem. Masurbation tempts me terribly. Can anyone tell me how by prayer i can over come this. I feel so bad everytime i do this. i keep apologizing to Allah and Hazar Imam for hours after doing it and not being able to sleep.

confusedman wrote:Hello All,

I am an ismaili man i am 18 years old. I love hazar imam and Allah but i have a problem. Masurbation tempts me terribly. Can anyone tell me how by prayer i can over come this. I feel so bad everytime i do this. i keep apologizing to Allah and Hazar Imam for hours after doing it and not being able to sleep.

There has been discussion on this issue under:

Current Issues --> This is a sad question...but have to ask

http://www.ismaili.net/html/modules.php ... 99&start=0

Why more women are saying 'no' to the pill
By Susan Martinuk,
Calgary Herald
January 15, 2010

According to recent statistics, women are increasingly saying "no" to the birth control pill. They are said to be more concerned about the potential impact of the pill on their health and on the environment.

With this news, the very idea of birth control has come full circle. Over the past 50 years, women demanded that the male-dominated pharmaceutical industry produce some kind of reliable and easy- to-use means of protecting their sexual and personal freedom. Yet, now that they have a plethora of pill formulations (that are supposedly 98 per cent effective in preventing conception) as options, that once-welcomed outside hormonal influence is being spurned and women are determined to control their own reproductive timetable. Irony, indeed.

But the declining interest in the pill may be more indicative of a very different trend. According to Dr. Roger Pierson, former president of Canada's Fertility and Andrology Society, the new statistics reveal far more about changes in the pharmaceutical industry than a changing approach to birth control. He says, "Pharmaceutical companies are no longer searching for the 'holy grail' of oral contraceptives -- a pill that is safe, effective and reversible."

Why not? Pierson believes there are several reasons.

Many of the popular, brand-name oral contraceptives are at, or nearing, patent expiration dates. That means other drug companies are free to create a generic form of the drug that can be sold at a far lower price. As a result, profits are falling for brand-name pills and pharmaceutical companies that invested hundreds of millions in product development are no longer interested in throwing money at advertising and promotional campaigns for products that are about to become obsolete.

A large number of lawsuits over birth control products may be even more significant in shutting down corporate interest in producing and developing new pills. Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals produces Yaz, the most popular pill in the U.S. But it ran into FDA and legal trouble with advertising that over-promised the good and understated the bad. A slew of lawsuits in 27 states were settled with an agreement that Bayer spend $20 million on a new ad campaign and, for the next six years, submit all Yaz advertising for FDA approval.

Lawsuits were filed against Jannsen-Ortho in the mid-2000s over the Ortho Evra contraceptive patch. It worked well as a contraceptive, but seemed to have a nasty problem in increasing the possibilities of blood clots and strokes. This may be one of the reasons that Janssen-Ortho, one of the oral contraceptive giants in the pharmaceutical industry, has now shut down its entire women's health division in sales and marketing.

Some of the more well-known class action lawsuits were filed against the makers of The Dalkon Shield and Norplant. Problems with the Shield led to more than 300,000 lawsuits, creating the largest tort liability case since asbestos. Ultimately, the cost of litigation and settlements was in the billions.

Norplant was another breakthrough contraceptive method -- a set of capsules implanted into a woman's arm were effective in preventing pregnancy for up to five years. But Wyeth, the makers of Norplant, failed to properly warn its users about the potential side-effects and that resulted in an out-of-court settlement with 32,000 women.

This potential for legal complications likely led several companies to cease research into a male contraceptive that was close to being marketed. It worked extremely well in most men, but 10 -to 15 per cent of men didn't respond to the drug. In our litigious atmosphere, that kind of a failure rate on a new product would surely open the door wide to the lawyers and lawsuits.

There are no perfect contraceptives and, obviously, no perfect drug companies. That, in part, is why this is such an emotionally-charged debate. While litigation could lead to better drugs, it more typically leads to a loss of profits and the inevitable loss of corporate interest in the product. We may not like it, but that's basic capitalism and the vast majority of us live by it. The scary part is that this declining trend in contraceptive development may lead to a similar disinterest in developing non-contraceptive drugs for women.

Susan Martinuk's column runs every Friday.

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

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February 8, 2010
Editorial
Abstinence Education Done Right

The ongoing debate over sex education has been rekindled by a provocative new study suggesting that teaching abstinence can delay the start of sexual activity among inner-city youngsters — if it is freed from the moralistic overtones and ideological restrictions that were the hallmark of abstinence-only programs under the Bush administration.

It would be a mistake to place too much importance on a single study of black middle-school students in Philadelphia, but the study appears to be sound and its findings are worth further exploration.

The study, published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, a journal of the American Medical Association, was led by a husband-wife team at the University of Pennsylvania. They randomly assigned 662 African-American students in grades six and seven to one of four different programs — an eight-hour abstinence-only program stressing the benefits of delaying intercourse; an eight-hour safer-sex program stressing condom use; a comprehensive intervention that covered both abstinence and condoms; and a control group that offered health information unrelated to sexual behavior.

The only program that successfully delayed the start of sexual activity was the abstinence-only instruction. By the end of two years, only a third of the abstinence-only group had engaged in sexual intercourse compared with almost half of the control group.

Advocates of abstinence-only education have seized on the new findings as evidence that their approach works best. Some are urging the Obama administration to reverse course and restore federal support for abstinence-only education. That is a willful misreading of the implications of this study.

Under current federal law, supported by the Bush administration and conservatives in Congress, abstinence-only programs that seek federal support must meet several rigid requirements that essentially make them abstinence-until-marriage programs.

They must teach, for example, that abstinence from sexual activity outside of marriage is the “expected standard” for all school-age children. This new study would have failed that test. It did not advocate abstinence until marriage but urged students to wait until they were more mature. It encouraged abstinence as a way to eliminate the risk of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, had youngsters draw up lists of the pros and cons of sexual activity, and taught strategies for resisting pressure to have intercourse.

The Obama administration, with Congressional acquiescence, has wisely eliminated funding for abstinence-only programs that meet the old ideological criteria and is supporting a range of programs to prevent teenage pregnancy, provided they are based on rigorous science. This study fits the new rubric, not the old.

The new study will need to be replicated in older teenagers and other ethnic groups to see if the findings are broadly relevant, and teenagers will need to be followed long enough to measure the effects in avoiding pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. No single approach will suffice to reduce sexual activity in all teenagers, but the new study suggests that there is a sensible, effective way to teach abstinence.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/opini ... nted=print

July 19, 2010
African Studies Give Women Hope in H.I.V. Fight
By CELIA W. DUGGER
VULINDLELA, South Africa — With an AIDS vaccine still out of reach, two rigorous new studies have found different ways to sharply cut H.I.V. infections among women and schoolgirls, who make up a majority of the newly infected in sub-Saharan Africa.

After two decades in which researchers searched fruitlessly for an effective vaginal microbicide to block H.I.V., South African scientists working in two AIDS-devastated communities of South Africa, one rural and one urban, say they have finally found something that shows real promise.

Women who used a vaginal microbicidal gel containing an antiretroviral medication widely used to treat AIDS, tenofovir, were 39 percent less likely over all to contract H.I.V. than those who used a placebo. Those who used the gel most regularly reduced their chances of infection 54 percent, according to a two-and-a-half year study of 889 women by Caprisa, a Durban-based AIDS research center.

Broader trials are needed to confirm the results, and it will most likely be years before the product is publicly available, but if produced on a large scale the gel would cost less than 25 cents per application, the lead investigators estimated.

Because the trial was relatively small and the gel was nowhere close to 100 percent effective, AIDS scientists and public health officials wanted to see another trial get similar results before they undertook the large fund-raising and public education efforts that would be needed to make billions of doses of the gel, as well as the applicators, which are more expensive, and then to persuade women to use them and governments of poor countries to adopt them.

Dr. Bruce Walker, a Harvard Medical School professor who was not involved in the study, said a cheer erupted when researchers unveiled their findings to a small group of scientists last month in Durban.

“This is the first time that there’s been a tool that women can use to protect themselves from becoming infected,” he said. “It’s a game changer.”

In Vienna, where the meeting of the International AIDS Society just opened, leaders of the global fight against AIDS said they found the results of the microbicide trial very impressive. The study was published online on Monday by Science magazine.

“This is very encouraging,” said Michel Sidibé, executive director of Unaids, the United Nations AIDS agency. “It can be controlled by women, and put in 12 hours earlier, and that is empowering. They do not have to ask the man for permission to use it. And the cost of the gel is not high.”

In another piece of progress against AIDS, a separate, large study in Malawi sponsored by the World Bank, and made public on Sunday, found that if poor schoolgirls and their families received small monthly cash payments, the girls had sex later, less often and with fewer partners.

A year and a half after the program started, the girls were less than half as likely to be infected with the AIDS or herpes viruses than were girls whose families got no payments. The likelihood that the girls would agree to sex in return for gifts and cash declined as the size of the payments from the program rose, suggesting the central role of extreme poverty in sexual choices.

“Maybe we can combine these behavioral and biomedical interventions,” said Dr. Tim Farley, a scientist with the World Health Organization involved in H.I.V. prevention research. “We need to pursue both avenues.”

At a time of intensifying competition for global health dollars, when the number of people who contract H.I.V. is outstripping those put on treatment each year, pressure is mounting on African countries and donors to focus more heavily on prevention. Male circumcision is one method proven to at least halve a man’s chances of H.I.V. infection.

Scientists say the success of the $18 million microbicide trial, largely paid for by the United States Agency for International Development, and the study on cash payments offer hope to girls and women in Africa, who have higher rates of H.I.V. infection than their male counterparts and often less power in relationships to protect themselves.

There have been other signs of progress. A new Unaids study found that H.I.V. prevalence among young people had declined by more than 25 percent in 15 of the 21 countries most affected by AIDS. In eight countries, the agency found evidence of positive changes in sexual behavior among young people, for example delaying having sex, having fewer partners and the increasing use of condoms.

In the $400,000 trial in Malawi, 3,800 teenage girls and young women, ages 13 to 22, were randomly assigned to two groups. Half the girls received no cash payments. The parents of the other half were paid $4 to $10 a month while the girls themselves received $1 to $5 a month if they attended school regularly.

After 18 months, the H.I.V. prevalence among the girls who got the cash was 1.2 percent, compared with 3 percent for the others. “The program empowered these girls to make better choices,” said Berk Ozler, a senior economist with the World Bank’s Development Research Group.

While cash programs are already spreading in Africa, the antiretroviral gel will take longer, according to the husband-and-wife team of epidemiologists who led the study. They are Dr. Salim S. Abdool Karim, Caprisa’s director, and Dr. Quarraisha Abdool Karim, associate scientific director.

“I would be very sad if we had to sit around a table three years from now and we don’t have the confirmation and regulations in place,” Dr. Salim Karim said.

Dr. Quarraisha Karim noted that, “For women, it certainly is a turning point.”

In South Africa, where 5.7 million people are H.I.V.-positive, more than in any other nation, the government is eager to move forward. “As soon as we’re confident it’s a safe and effective product, we should do our best to get it out,” said Derek Hanekom, the country’s deputy minister of science and technology.

The women who participated in the study — in the city of Durban and in the rural community of Vulindlela, in the rolling hills of KwaZulu-Natal — used the gel up to 12 hours before and after sex. Usually their partners were not aware of it. Tissue biopsies found levels of tenofovir that were 1,000 times what they would have been in the blood if the drug had been taken by pill, the team said.

The success follows years of disappointing results in trials of other microbicides that were found to be ineffective, or even to raise a woman’s risk of H.I.V. infection. There are currently other trials under way that use tenofovir in gel and pill forms.

Gilead Sciences, the California-based biopharmaceutical company that developed tenofovir, donated 65 pounds of the active ingredient for the study. It has also relinquished any claim to royalties on the gel if it is distributed in Africa and poor countries in other parts of the world.

Dr. Howard Jaffe, president of the Gilead Foundation, the company’s charitable arm, said that Dr. Salim Karim — nicknamed Slim — pitched the microbicide idea to company scientists in 2004, to initial reluctance.

“Slim is nothing if not charismatic, passionate and intelligent, and we thought it needs to be studied, it will be studied and this may be the best time to do it,” Dr. Jaffe said.

In Vulindlela, women have a desperate need for a way to protect themselves. H.I.V. testing of pregnant women in the area has found that one in 10 is already H.I.V.-positive by 16; half are infected by 24.

Before antiretroviral treatment became available here, the graveyards were crowded every weekend with funeralgoers. Fewer people are dying now, but many young women are still getting infected.

Xoliswa Mthethwa, 26, who was part of the study, said she told her boyfriend about the gel and he was very supportive. If it worked, she said, “I’d be the first person to go buy it.”


Donald G. McNeil Jr. contributed reporting from Vienna.




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